Confidence To Write?

[Mahesh]

Well,I've been on this little guitar piece and 4 lines of lyrics for a while now. The thing is that I know for some reason that its something very special,so its been some pressure from myself to write something deserving and fitting. But back to the point,my question is,have you ever felt inconfident with yourself songwriting-wise that you might ruin your own song?

Its kind of an obvious point to say that I shouldnt be and no one can express my thoughts better than myself(cos I've been telling that to myself a thousand times for a while now),but Im sure a few words from you all can get our thoughts going,

Cheers,

Mahesh

(P.S I've been up for quite far too long so I hope my sleepiness does not make my question unclear or confusing)

[RodChandler]

Short answer to your question, is no. I'm not afraid of messing anything up. I might not get it as right as I want and have to shelve it for a time until through the writing and re-writing process I get it to a place where I am happy with it. Sometimes it happens right away, sometimes a while. I have some sitting here just waiting for the right line to come along and make them breathe, but alas there is nothing here right now, and that's ok. I'll focus on the ones that are here. If none are forthcoming then I'll just play my guitar and bass and try to get better at my instruments. But I always remain confident that when I say it is done and put it out there to the world, it will have my indelible stamp on it and it will be the best I can do at that particular time.

[MikeRobinson]

Plus ... never actually throw anything away. Keep every draft, every snippet. If you don't like something and want to discard it, lightly draw a line over the page and stuff it into an appropriate section of a loose-leaf notebook. After all, you spent time and creative energy developing the thing that you don't like anymore: don't let that effort go to naught, and who knows, maybe you'll change your mind.

[beatpoet]

Fran Healy (of Travis, one of my fave singer/songwriters) recently put up a post about songwriting. Take a look at http://www.franhealy.com/2011/12/answer-to-don-from-vancouver/

[ryangarrettmusic]

I think it has a lot to do with experience. If you haven't been writing for a very long time you may not be as confident as you would if you've been at it a while and you've had enough constructive criticism to know which elements you're good at and which elements you're not so good at. For example, I don't think I have the greatest grammar in my songwriting (which for my style of writing isn't too bad of a con, but it really depends I guess) and I don't have a very excessive use of rich vocabulary. Occasionally I will use "big words" but only if I truly believe it fits and actually enhances the song...and if it actually makes sense. But I'm all about getting the point across, so I'm not going to bog a song down with rich vocabulary when my song could be a lot catchier if I just kept it simple. Other times, I may feel a little poetic and break out the thesaurus. But always let your feelings come first, then worry about grammar, vocabulary and stuff like that in your final drafts of the song. But on your rough draft let it be what you feel and you can make corrections later. This way you keep the emotion (which is a key element) in your song, even after it's revised, and you take the time to let the song sink in to where you can look back on it later and see what needs to be changed and what's okay as is (vocabulary, grammar, slightly better rhyme schemes if necessary). When you are for sure your song is in it's finished form (which can sometimes be a tough decision) you will feel a sense of pride and confidence from your hard work. You know all the key elements are there, and your emotion and effort still stands just as strong in your final work as it did in your rough draft. Over time, you'll get used to this feeling of confidence, and this overall method of songwriting in general and you will know when your work is good...and when it's not so good. Just remember there is always a time and place for everything.

[gradual]

My answer would be "no"--I'm usually pretty bleh about it. Maybe there have been exceptions, but it's generally hard for me to get enthusiastic about a new idea in the early stages. I'm not really afraid of ruining it, because I don't even really know if it's good enough to begin with. But I've been doing it long enough to know that if I stick with the idea, there's plenty of potential to turn it into something. Eventually I start to sense that I may have something special, but only after I've had a chance to really develop it.